Samsung i8910 Omnia HD

HD recording camphone, anyone?

Common Topics

The i8910 has A-GPS and a virtual compass on board, though it seems a shame that Samsung didn't see fit to install Google Maps or similar – you'll have to do it yourself. Call quality is loud and clear, with the largish speaker delivering nicely rounded voice tones – the unusually close proximity of this outsize handset's microphone to our mouth didn't hurt either.

A-GPS and compass on-board, but no map applications provided

Setting up email isn't as straightforward as it is with Windows Mobile or Blackberry handsets, since you'll need your POP3 and IMAP4 settings from your network, rather than just your email address and password. Once set up, we had no trouble receiving messages from the phone's auto-update system. It's not as immediate as Blackberry's push email, but it'll do.

Samsung claims 13.5 hours of talk time and 600 hours of standby, and we managed a little under two days of moderate use, which wasn't bad since we did a fair bit of video watching and browsing over Wi-Fi in that time.

Verdict

It just about makes itself pocket-friendly by virtue of being fairly thin, but this is still a hefty handful of a handset. The screen is exceptional, clearly ahead of the iPhone, and does a terrific job of showing off both video downloads and 720p HD video recorded by its own camera. Indeed, the quality is arguably the best we've yet seen on a cameraphone, beating the likes of the LG Viewty Smart’s camera for detail and authentic colour representation.

On the downside, you’d expect a smoother, more intuitive browser experience these days and A-GPS isn't well supported as on most other smartphones out there. Also, it's not cheap, but if media playback is big on your agenda, then the Omnia HD is definitely worth a screening. ®